Entries in Doing Business Index
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When top state or corporate leaders lay down goals, compliance may not always meet their intended aims. This is the case in China, where companies have been under increasing pressure from the central government to comply with rising standards in corporate social responsibility.

Economist Vito Tanzi once said that when rules can be used to extract bribes, more rules will be created. And when more rules appear, more bribes will be needed to bargain down the red tape, and so on.

The International Finance Corporation and the World Bank released their new Doing Business Index this week. It's the 11th annual report measuring business regulations for local firms -- how easy or hard it is to do business in the countries surveyed. It focuses on small and medium-size companies operating in the largest business city of an economy.

BHP Billiton said it will pull out of nearly all of its India oil and gas projects. The world's biggest mining company didn’t give a reason but local reports cited delays in getting exploration permits.